Opinion Wanted - Yamaha CDC685 CD Player, RXV457 Amplifier, Paradigm Phantom Speakers

[r m]

I am planning my first proper hifi system mainly for CD playback but also for internet radio.

Does anyone have any experience / opinion with this equipment?

[ApartmentTheatre]

I've owned an entire Paradigm home theatre for the past 5 years now and have loved it. I have Phantoms for fronts, CC-370 center, ADP-170 Rears, PS-1000 sub. I had this installed in my parents house, but now I've moved out at 19 and have it all setup in my apartment. For christmas I bought a used Marantz SR6200 (MSRP $1699, i think.) for $300 on eBay and it made a HUGE difference in the system and I have found my weakness is now the Phantoms. They are truly......disappointing now listening to them compared to my car audio (Focal Utopias) and my older brothers B&W DM604. I reccomend not getting the floor standing phantoms and getting higher quality smaller speakers. I don't have any specific reccomendations, but maybe the monitor series from paradigm, or even higher if you purchase used. But, If you still want Phantoms, I have a pair I'm looking to sell, flawless condition black finish.

[r m]

Thanks for your reply.

I can get the yamaha cd player and receiver at a Radio Parts store very near to home. They don't do the Paradigm Phantom speakers but do do the B & W DM602 bookshelf speakers which I was impressed with when we listened to them playing a couple of tracks from the stores Shania Twain cd briefly yesterday. My fiancee's comment was "wow, they make even Shania Twain sound good and I don't like her music usually".

I will go in later in the week and give them a more thorough test using music I am familiar with and am likely to be playing on the system.

The store has a test room which is as big, or bigger, than the room I am likely to put the speakers into. Would I be right in saying that, in order to avoid buying a speaker that is overtaxed by being played too loud, as a rule of thumb I should be looking for speakers that sound loud at, for arguments sake, 75% of full volume.

I may go and try the Phantoms just to satisfy my curiosity if I can find a store selling them.

[gorilla196635]

Be careful with the CD player. I have the CDC735 I bought at Tweeter for 1/2 price $200 and this thing appears to have some type of skipping problem where it will just randomly start skipping through songs and jump all over the place. If you are buying used I say buyer beware..
Mine was a floor model and I am disappointed. For whatever reason I took the cover off and tried to clean the lens and left the cover off while I played it through hours of music. Once I put the cover back on and put it back in the system it started skipping again.....
Go figure.

[paul_pci]

If your intention is for mainly two channel CD playback then maybe you should consider an integrated amp that will typically have better circuitry and processing for that purpose than the typical mass market home theater receiver. What you don't get with the integrated amp, is the tuner, but if you're going for internet radio, then maybe you wont miss it. If you are unfamiliar with integrated amps, check out the selection at audioadvisor.com for starters.